When I first heard about the Asheville City Council’s intent to vote on “reparations for black Asheville”, I honestly thought that the person who told me about it was joking. Then he showed me the article in the Asheville Citizens Times. I downloaded the draft resolution and started reading through it. I fail to see any compelling argument for reparations in this draft resolution; however, there are plenty of unsubstantiated claims and a few statements of historical fact.
WHEREAS, Black People have been unjustly Enslaved
I don’t believe that too many people would dispute the fact that slavery existed in this country 150 years ago. No current black citizens of Asheville lived that horror, and no current residents of Asheville held slaves. The idea that the city of Asheville somehow owes an apology to its black citizens for the injustice of slavery is absurd. Justice was invoked through ratification of the 13th amendment to the US constitution in late 1865.
History.com published an article that estimated that roughly 750,000 white Americans gave their lives in the Civil War, which is widely believed to have been a turning point in the effort to end slavery in the United States of America. The article states that, “…one out of 10 white men who were of military age in 1860 died as a result of the civil war.” Are we going to also give reparations to Asheville’s white citizens to compensate for all these white men who gave the ultimate sacrifice? Of course, I am not truly advocating for that similarly ridiculous action.
WHEREAS, Black People have been unjustly Segregated; and WHEREAS, Black people have been segregated from mainstream education and within present day school programs that include AG, AP, and Honors
The US Supreme Court declared in May 1954 that segregated schools were unconstitutional. The United States Congress passed the 14th and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution to begin the systemic destruction of segregation of its black citizens. These amendments have been referenced many times since their ratification by legislators and the United States Supreme Court. So, the injustice of segregation has also been addressed in the United States Constitution. These amendments have been used as building blocks for repairing the damage that the injustice caused and to invite United States citizens to begin healing. If segregation is still found in Asheville today, it should be exposed and addressed.
WHEREAS, Black people have been unjustly Incarcerated
I believe that we can likely find instances of unjust incarceration across people of all skin colors. How many black citizens are experiencing unjust incarceration today, and how often? Are thousands of Asheville’s black citizens experiencing this currently? What precisely is the definition for “unjust incarceration”? Are people being jailed without any criminal charges? Are people being incarcerated for laws that shouldn’t be on the books? Let’s get to the bottom of the problem and address it directly. What the hell does reparations do to resolve the problem?
WHEREAS, Black People have been denied housing through racist practices in the private realty market, including redlining, steering, blockbusting, denial of mortgages, and gentrification; and WHEREAS, Black People have been denied housing, displaced and inadequately housed by government housing policies that include discriminatory VA/FHA practices, Urban Renewal, and a variety of local and federal “affordable” housing programs
Aren’t there laws on the books to prevent these types of discrimination? People need to stand up for themselves by making use of the appropriate channels if they are experiencing discrimination. Burning buildings and looting businesses is not the best way of lodging a complaint. The government is not responsible for compensating victims of crimes that the government didn’t commit. If that was a responsibility of government, then why are we limiting reparations to only black citizens who have suffered an injustice?
I was taught by my parents that I am responsible for making my own way in life. It’s called “personal responsibility”. I need to exercise that responsibility to myself, to my family and to my friends and neighbors. If I can’t address a problem on my own, I will seek wisdom and guidance from my support network – a network of people and entities that I have worked to develop by being a good neighbor, a good friend, a good member of my community. If that network is unable to assist, then I will turn to family, my lawyer or whatever government services are available to help me work through my problem.
I have seen many black peers around me in the workplace. I have managed people of different skin colors, and I have also been managed by people of different skin colors. I have worked in low-paying jobs before, and I have sometimes found it necessary to hold down a second job to make ends meet. My parents taught me by example to develop a good work ethic. That trait has allowed me to increase my income and opportunities. Nobody handed those opportunities to me; I earned them.
At the ripe age of 62, I can look back and see where I have made sacrifices in my personal life and in my family life to advance my career. I have worked long shifts and crazy hours. I have worked on holidays and through weekends. I have missed family events and activities with friends. I have scrimped and saved what I could to help ensure that I have a little more income during my retirement than what social security will provide. As tired as I am of working, I will continue in my job until I can qualify for Medicare.
If you are trying to make me believe that good, honest, hard-working people are being ignored and wholesale taken advantage of in the workplace, you need to name names. What employers are so stupid as to not do whatever they can to help their businesses succeed by placing the right people under their employ? I wouldn’t expect them to hire a less qualified employee based solely on skin color. That just doesn’t make sense. If I ever encountered such an employer, I would have to count myself lucky for not being forced to accept such a situation. If that wasn’t a concern for me, you can believe that I would be talking to the EEOC.
“The government” has enacted laws to prevent injustices and to implement remedies that we can use ourselves to address injustices that we may encounter. I must pick up those tools, though, and use them for myself. I can’t afford to sit around and wait for someone else to take care of me.
The Minority Business Development Agency of the United States Commerce Department exists for the purpose of helping black people prevail over attempts to “systematically exclude them from historic and present private economic development and community investments.” Does the Asheville City Council believe that there are flaws within that support infrastructure? If so, let’s identify those flaws and work to remediate them. How are “reparations” supposed to help minority business owners and potential minority business owners. Who can present actual examples of having tried to pursue this assistance and then met with failure due solely to the color of their skin? I believe that such examples must exist. However, we need to deal with specifics if we are going to identify and implement sound remediation. Generalities are fine for whining and complaining, but they aren’t going to lead to any real solutions. So I have to assume that a solution is not the desired outcome.
WHEREAS, Black students have experienced the denial of education through admission, retention and graduation rates of every level of education in WNC and through discriminatory disciplinary practices
This statement is unacceptably incoherent. It does not clearly specify the issue. It sounds as though the Asheville City Council feels that black students are not reaping benefit from the education system. What exactly does the problem seem to be? In what way are admission policies discriminatory – Provide clear examples so that they may be addressed. How is it the Asheville City Council’s responsibility to keep black students in school until they graduate? That is a job for the parents, not the government. What are these “discriminatory disciplinary practices”? Are there different disciplinary rules based on skin color?
WHEREAS, Black People historically and presently receive inadequate, if not detrimental, health care as exemplified by disproportionate morbidities and mortality rates that result from the generational trauma of systemic racism, discriminatory treatment by medical professionals, and discriminatory medical practices such as involuntary sterilizations, denial of adequate testing, denial of preventative and curative procedures
How are white people or the Asheville City Council responsible for the medical care of black citizens? City Council cannot simply write such an inflammatory statement without any substantiation and consider that they have recorded a “fact” worthy of inclusion in a formal government document such as this resolution. What exactly is “generational trauma of systemic racism”, and how does that translate into inadequate or detrimental health care? Who is providing this poor health care, and is it because they are racists?
Involuntary sterilization was inhuman. How on earth did anyone think that this was an “okay” idea? The state of North Carolina has previously addressed this insanity and developed a plan for seeking justice. How is it that this being raised now by Asheville City Council as an injustice to be addressed (again)? Are we going to address all of the complaints identified in this resolution only to come back decades later and try once again to offer an apology and even more reparations?
What kinds of medical testing have been withheld for Asheville’s black citizens and by whom?
There are many other “WHEREAS”s in this draft resolution. Many of them appear to me to be nothing more than unsubstantiated charges of wrongdoing by society against poor people. Being poor sucks! I have been there before. But society doesn’t owe me reparations just because of my unfortunate circumstances, bad luck or even my own shortcomings. I needed to grow from the experience of bringing myself to a better position in life.
WHEREAS, state and federal governments have a responsibility to adopt programs, policies, and funding to address reparations
This is an outright untruth. Government has attempted to address inequities in our society through legislation, and I agree that doing so is a responsibility of society. But how on earth did reparations become a government responsibility? That is not a government responsibility – it is just an example of government overreach. How is it that Asheville City Council can apologize for slavery to people who are not slaves? What does such an apology mean? How can such an apology be accepted, and by whom?
Segregation has been remedied by law. How does an apology by Asheville City Council assist that remedy? What is it that the legal remedies left out?
How do apologies from Asheville City Council for past transgressions help anything at this point? How would reparations help anything at this point? Why should we hope that reparations will settle all scores and bring us peace and prosperity forever?
I agree that the city can and probably should setup a fair and equitable process for collecting feedback and proposing recommendations for improving the quality of life for ALL of Asheville’s citizens, but let’s please stop perpetuating this concept of black victimhood.
This resolution could have been written by my 15-year-old granddaughter. It is naively kind and generous towards black people and implies wrongdoing by Asheville’s white people. It reminds me of when I was an idealistic young man who thought that I could solve the world’s problems. Everything would be just fine if everyone would just do as I say! It reminds me of when I was a rebellious teenager who didn’t want to play by any of the rules. It reminds me of a time before I learned that I couldn’t keep running up to Mommy and Daddy and have them kiss me on the forehead and give me whatever I needed in order to be happy.
Asheville City Council members need to grow the hell up. Let’s stop painting BLM slogans on the public streets. Let’s stop tolerating the fact that we have druggies and alcoholics stumbling across our city. Let’s fix the water system, that we should have turned over to the state years ago if we couldn’t handle it. Let’s stop tearing down monuments and looking for ways to spend money by covering others up.
Let the children be children, but let’s expect the adults to be adults.
